1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to monolithic structures comprising one or several power or high-voltage switching or protection component(s), formed in a semiconductor substrate and methods for forming such structures. The present invention more specifically relates to such components comprising areas with a low concentration and areas with a high concentration of a metal such as gold or platinum.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In such structures, it is sometimes desired to reduce the minority carrier lifetime in a component, for example, to obtain a fast diode. For this purpose, diffusions of metal atoms such as gold or platinum are currently used. Such diffusions result, for example from the deposition of a platinum layer on a semiconductor substrate and from an anneal to diffuse the platinum into the substrate.
A disadvantage of this method is that the platinum very rapidly diffuses into the substrate and that the process is difficult to control. In particular, it appears to be difficult to perform a platinum diffusion at selected locations only of a silicon substrate.